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 KARACHI: Thin activity was witnessed at the Karachi bourse on Friday with all eyes focused on the bomb blasts in Charsadda. The Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) benchmark 100-share index crawled up 0.04 per cent or 5.16 points to end at 11,967.34 points.Concerns that terrorist attacks may continue after the Charsadda blast kept investors on the sidelines, said Topline Securities equity dealer Samar Iqbal. A double suicide bombing targeting paramilitary forces killed at least 80 people and injured 100 others in Charsadda on Friday. Trade volumes fell to a more dismal level of 57 million shares compared with Thursday’s tally of 64 million shares. Major activity was witnessed in fertiliser stocks, led by Fauji Fertiliser Company gaining 1.1 per cent over market expectation of an increase in urea price by Rs105 per bag. The fertiliser industry is expected to get an additional 40 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) of gas, which is expected to reduce gas shortfall for the sector. Engro rose 0.3 per cent while Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim remained range-bound. Shares of 334 companies were traded on Friday. At the end of the day, 127 stocks closed higher, 113 declined and 94 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs1.5 billion. Jahangir Siddiqui and Company was the volume leader with 10.62 million shares, gaining Rs0.26 to finish at Rs7.13. It was followed by Lotte Pakistan PTA with 9.12 million shares, declining Rs0.2 to close at Rs15.36. Lotte Pakistan remained under pressure throughout the day due to declining margins of its products including pure terephthalic acid. Azgard Nine came third in the volumes chart with 6.63 million shares, firming Rs0.06 to close at Rs5.88. Published in The Express Tribune, May 14th, 2011. |
